Nikola Jokic: Balling is His Curse
Nikola Jokic is far and away the most unique athlete I have ever watched. I’ve been in Denver this summer and I’m sure it has helped that I watched his coronation as the best player in the NBA right in the middle of the action, but I think it’s more than that. Nikola Jokic is his own solar system on the court, and off it he could not care less.
I’m not saying Nikola Jokic doesn’t care about basketball. A lot of people assume with his nonchalant attitude that he sees basketball as a means to an end and nothing more, and maybe that’s the case, but I think it has a lot more to do with the exhausting nature of the American professional sports ecosystem.
You’re never just an athlete in America. You’re also a celebrity, a CEO, and a Fortune 500 company all by yourself. There is absolutely no way that isn’t exhausting. I think what the public perceives as “Jokic packing it in” in the public non-basketball sphere is just that- but who wouldn’t? I would love to be paid $200 million to play basketball, but that’s never where the commitment stops. Professional sports, at least in the United States, have always been about building up the individual to a level where they become self-sustaining as a brand. Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, Jim Brown, Michael Jordan, and Tom Brady are just some examples we have of this phenomenon across decades. We look at the Lebron James and the Stephen Currys and we assume everybody that’s on that level of play wants that level of exposure, but what about the guys that don’t want to be a brand?
Last summer I read a tweet that made me laugh so hard I almost passed out. It was a retweet of a video of Jokic riding one of his racehorses. I can’t find it anymore but I’ve attached a screenshot. The tweet reads “I’ve never seen Jokic smile except for when he’s riding a horse or doing some Eastern European shit. Balling is his curse.”
The phrase “balling is his curse” to describe an-at-the-time two time MVP hit me like two to the jaw from prime Ali. I don’t know why it struck me as so funny at the time, but I do know that I agree with the statement, or at least parts.
I don’t think that playing basketball is Nikola Jokic’s curse, rather playing in the NBA is. This guy wants to hoop, he doesn’t want to be omnipotent, but at a certain level of celebrity the lines between those things blur.
I think a lot about one of my other favorite athletes, Kawhi Leonard. Kawhi has had his career essentially derailed by injuries. By derailed I want to emphasize I don’t mean destroyed, rather Kawhi has never been healthy for long enough at a time to become the brand a player of his level typically would. I think part of this is intentional from Kawhi, but I also think he just hasn’t been front and center enough over the past five years to become present nationally as a celebrity.
Kawhi Leonard, if given healthy legs, likely has his celebrity develop in a similar way to Jokic’s. Don’t get me wrong “Kawhi doesn’t care” is a constant storyline, but he’s also frequently injured so it’s far more difficult for people to just assume malice. Nikola Jokic hasn’t missed chunks of time in the same way, so now we’re getting the real endgame of “basketball player that couldn’t care less about being a celebrity.”
I think it’s pretty refreshing, honestly. I had my hoop dreams dashed fairly early when I realized that neither of my parents were very tall and I likely wouldn’t be either. I can see how it would hurt if you had to quit in high school or college to watch a guy that evidently cares more about his family (GHASP) and his pet interests than his job to live your dream.
I love people who are passionate about their work, but I also love when somebody can be real with everybody for a second and remind people it’s a job. I think it’s great to throw yourself into your work, but when I see a guy who’s just trying to punch a card so he can go chill with his horses I relate to it more if I’m being honest, regardless of what the job is.